Asanoha Kumiko

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First kumiko project, from Matt Kenney's book. I did the Square Dance project second. This is far fussier than the Square Dance pattern. Should have done them in reverse order. No glue required, though I do have a dot here and there. It represents good health to the Japanese. 12" X 12".

Steven- Random Orbital Nailer

38 Comments

nice work DL !

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

A nice pattern, and it looks great. The patterns in the book are all good, and as you mentioned this seems harder. I think we will be seeing more projects like this or at least incorporated in another.

I used a drop of glue on the ones I did, applied with a toothpick.

Main Street to the Mountains

Beautiful!    Very well done.
Thanks, folks! Eric- They are supposed to be friction fit, but I didn't want to keep making the little pieces forever, so like you, I used a few dots of glue.

Steven- Random Orbital Nailer

Very nice! For those “in the know” which pattern is best to start with?

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

Great looking, well done.

Ron

Great looking Kumiko! I think Japanese actually use glue made of rice...

No name noobie here

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Very nice! For those “in the know” which pattern is best to start with?

Thanks! I think that the "Square Dance" one is a good starting point. It was a lot easier than this one, but after all that practice, I would expect it to be. Though I don't expect that I'm actually "in the know", only having copied a couple projects out of Matt Kenney's book. 😁

Steven- Random Orbital Nailer

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Great looking Kumiko! I think Japanese actually use glue made of rice...

Thanks! I kind of feel cheated; I read that it was all friction fit. But then, I cheated and put on a few dots of wood glue. Also, the panels generally get some colored paper behind them. One could easily put glue on that paper. In retrospect, I'd expect glue, given the seismic activity level in Japan.

Steven- Random Orbital Nailer

Thanks!

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

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Thanks!

Certainly. Just remember that the saw blade width should equal the wood thickness. I ordered all the wood "cut to size" from National Balsa. The cost was good, but the sizing was lacking. I can't really fault them on that, since it's wood. But if I had ordered metal to size for a design run at work, I'd've expected tighter tolerances.

Steven- Random Orbital Nailer

how off was it DL ?

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Going by memory, as much as 1/32 in width. I had ordered it 3/4" wide. As for thickness, probably half that- 1/64". Not bad, really, when you consider that they probably use razors, as is done with balsa. This task required much tighter tolerances than model airplanes, which is their main business (I think). I ordered it 3/32" thick (.1875"), knowing that I was going to thin it down to the saw blade width, which is .140".

Steven- Random Orbital Nailer

Good to know. I was considering ordering some sticks to start with. Milling and sizing it all for the first couple go’s seems pretty time consuming. Time I’d rather spend with a chisel. 

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

I used Basswood picked up from Hobby Lobby, 3/8" stock. Not all that bad to cut the strips out, milled the groves first on a jig, then over to the bandsaw to cut the strips (using a fence).

Main Street to the Mountains

I don’t suppose it would be. But by the time I drive to where I get my wood, purchase it, get it home and mill it down…let alone the time to mill it…it’s cheaper to buy a bundle to start with. Hell, gasoline costs alone might make it worth the online order!!

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

I picked up a tip from a woodworker over at LumberJocks, who uses wood blind slats from the ReStore (CHEAP) as separators in the boxes he makes. BoxGuy, (I think). They are very similar in thickness, so the only sizing of them would be to rip to width. I use those for spacing out my knives and miniature carving tools. I bought a used blind many years ago and still have pieces of it around. But one would have to tailor their blade width to the thickness of those slats, if making a pattern like "Square Dance". The asanoha doesn't require slots for nesting the pieces.

Steven- Random Orbital Nailer

Some dandy work DL,  looks indicate and stylish!

I'd actually prefer _more_ glue being used. Wouldn't want to be pulling the string that caused the entire quilt to fall apart.
Thanks! I have yet to put any sort of backing on it. I may well roll glue on it when I do that, just in case.

Steven- Random Orbital Nailer

For backing of a Kumiko project, like lamps is usually a shoji paper.   Believe it is a rice paper.   It is glued on with shoji nori glue.    The glue comes in a small squeeze bottle that is made to put a line of glue down each piece of the project.    Was surprised to find how easy it was.   Worked great on some lamps.   After the glue dries the paper can be sprayed or misted and then will shrink slightly to be nice and smooth     If you made model airplanes as a kid same as on the paper covered wings and stuff.  
I got the nori glue and the paper from a company off the internet   Quick ship and the price was good.  I think the bottle of glue was under $5.   I have no connection of any kind with this company.
Shoji.com    Franklin Wis.    414-367-2501     also info@shoji.com   Found that on the how to sheet they send with the paper.   You can find the glue on Amazon also, different brand.
Hope this helps.   

Ron